Mission

Our mission is to collect, preserve, interpret and exhibit artifacts and archives relating to the history of Japanese Canadians from the 1870s through the present, and to communicate to all the Japanese Canadian experience and contribution as an integral part of Canada's heritage and multicultural society.

Speakers Series, Greg Robinson

LEST WE FORGET: THE INTRIGUING HISTORY OF JAPANESE CANADIANS IN QUEBEC

Thursday, March 1, 7pm2F Room 210

Admission by donation

Float at the St. Jean de Baptiste Parade; Montreal, QC

One important long-term result of the wartime removal of Japanese Canadians was the establishment of a unique Japanese community in Quebec. Beginning in 1942, Japanese Canadians forced from the West Coast began to leave the West Coast or the camps and move East. The migrants, especially Nisei, found a warm welcome in Montreal, where they interacted closely with both English and French Canadians. The community organized to build lasting institutions, including churches, stores, and a newspaper. While some Japanese Canadians later returned West, many preferred to remain in Montreal, where they were able to become absorbed into the wider society. Like the larger city, Montreal’s Japanese population remains notable for religious, generational, and linguistic diversity.

Greg Robinson is Associate Professor of History at l Universite du Quebec A Montreal and the author of A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America (Columbia).